“Lock the rear exit.”

Tommy looked at him. “Why?”

Samuel smiled.

“Because this time I’m not running.”

The door opened.

A tall man entered carrying a black file marked CLASSIFIED. Rainwater ran from his shoulders onto the floor.

“Samuel Briggs,” he said. “Call sign Specter One.”

Samuel looked toward him.

“You’ve been recalled.”

Tommy almost laughed from disbelief. “Recalled? He’s seventy-four.”

The agent ignored him.

Samuel’s expression became still.

“By whose authority?”

“Special operations command directive.”

Samuel looked toward the wheelchair.

“You boys planning on deploying this too?”

The agent showed no reaction.

“We need you to come with us.”

“For what?”

The man opened the file.

The first page displayed one title.

OPERATION SPECTER RETURN.

Samuel stared at it.

“That’s imaginative.”

The agent continued. “An asset connected to Black Ridge resurfaced seventy-two hours ago.”

Samuel’s face changed.

“What asset?”

The door opened again.

A woman stepped in from the rain.

She wore a dark field jacket over a Marine uniform. Her hair was gray at the temples, but her posture stopped Samuel more completely than anything else had that night.

He stared.

The woman removed the hood.

Tommy looked from her to Samuel.

Samuel whispered one name.

“Evelyn Shaw.”

The woman gave a tired smile.

“Hello, Sam.”

His hands tightened around the wheelchair arms.

“No.”

She stopped several feet away.

“You look terrible.”

“You’re dead.”

“So are you.”

Tommy looked between them.

Samuel stared at her. “Captain Evelyn Shaw died at Black Ridge.”

Evelyn shook her head.

“Lieutenant Evelyn Shaw disappeared after Black Ridge.”

The agent looked irritated. “Colonel Shaw, we don’t have time for reunions.”

Samuel’s eyes stayed on her. “Colonel.”

She nodded.

“Long story.”

“You always liked promotions.”

Her smile disappeared.

“And you always used jokes when you wanted to hit someone.”

Tommy stepped closer. “You were there?”

Evelyn looked toward him.

“Yes.”

“With Samuel?”

“Yes.”

Samuel’s voice hardened. “She was part of the team.”

Tommy looked confused. “But you said nearly everybody died.”

Samuel stared at Evelyn.

“So did I.”

The agent closed the file. “We need Mr. Briggs in secure custody.”

Tommy slammed a hand against the counter. “He isn’t a criminal.”

The man looked at him. “His existence violates a classified continuity agreement.”

Samuel laughed.

“That may be the stupidest sentence anyone has said to me tonight, and Tyler Boone was in here earlier.”

Evelyn almost smiled.

The agent did not.

“Mr. Briggs, you broke operational silence.”

Samuel looked at him. “By drinking bourbon?”

“By allowing your identity to become public.”

“Someone mocked me in a bar.”

“And you confirmed a classified call sign.”

Samuel leaned back.

“I didn’t realize my name belonged to the government.”

The agent’s face hardened.

Evelyn stepped between them.

“Give us a moment.”

“I have orders.”

“I outrank your field authorization.”

The man hesitated.

Evelyn looked toward the door.

“Now.”

He left.

Tommy stayed.

Evelyn did not object.

For several seconds, she and Samuel only looked at each other.

“You survived,” he said.

“Yes.”

“I pulled you from that compound.”

“You did.”

“You were bleeding out.”

“I know.”

“I carried you almost two miles.”

“I remember.”

“Then you disappeared.”

Her eyes lowered.

“So did you.”

Samuel’s voice sharpened. “I did not have a choice.”

Evelyn looked up.

“Neither did I.”

“You went with them.”

“They threatened my family.”

Samuel said nothing.

“My father,” she continued. “My sister.”

Her voice began to break despite everything she did to control it.

“They showed me photographs of both of them.”

Samuel’s jaw loosened.

“I was twenty-six, Sam.”

He looked toward the floor.

“I know.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I know what fear does.”

That stopped her.

Evelyn leaned against the bar.

“I spent years hating myself.”

Samuel looked at her.

“That makes two of us.”

Tommy poured three bourbons.

No one asked.

Evelyn lifted hers but did not drink.

“I was relocated under another identity.”

“Where?”

“I can’t tell you.”

Samuel smiled.

“Still protecting the system.”

“No.”

She looked at him.

“I’m protecting people who never asked to be part of it.”

He accepted that.

Barely.

Tommy asked, “Why come back now?”

Evelyn looked toward Samuel.

“Because somebody reopened Black Ridge.”

Samuel’s expression changed.

“Who?”

“We don’t know.”

“What surfaced?”

“A field ledger.”

Samuel sat straighter.

“What ledger?”

Evelyn hesitated.

“The one Captain Holloway carried.”

Samuel’s face went cold.

“He died beside me.”

“Yes.”

“I buried him.”

“I know.”

“He had no ledger.”

Evelyn looked toward the file.

“Someone does.”

Samuel stared at her.

The mission had just changed shape.

Outside, an engine idled.

Then another.

Evelyn lowered her voice. “The ledger contains names of intelligence assets, political intermediaries, covert funding routes, and command personnel connected to Black Ridge.”

Samuel understood.

“And if it becomes public?”

“People lose careers.”

He smiled without humor.

“Careers.”

“Governments get questions they don’t want.”

“Better.”

“Families get dragged into things they never understood.”

That stopped him.

Evelyn knew it would.

Samuel looked toward the window.

“So they want the ledger.”

“They want you because they think you know where Holloway hid the backup.”

“I don’t.”

“Do they believe that?”

“No.”

“Then we have a problem.”

Tommy muttered, “Understatement of the year.”

The agent outside knocked on the window.

Evelyn ignored him.

“Sam, come with us voluntarily.”

“To where?”

“A secure location.”

He laughed.

“Prison without the paperwork.”

“No.”

“Bunker?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“A place where we can protect you.”

Samuel looked at her.

“I spent twenty-three years protecting myself from the people promising protection.”

Evelyn’s face tightened.

“If you stay here, they will escalate.”

“How?”

A mechanical whine sounded outside.

High-pitched.

Distant.

Then closer.

Tommy looked toward the ceiling.

“What the hell is that?”

Evelyn moved toward the window.

Red targeting lights appeared faintly through the rain.

Her face changed.

“Drones.”

Tommy stared.

“For an old man in a wheelchair?”

Samuel smiled grimly.

“Apparently I’m popular.”

Evelyn cursed.

“This is not my team.”

Samuel looked toward her.

“No?”

“No.”

The agent outside turned toward the street.

Men beside the SUVs began shouting into radios.

One red light moved across the pavement.

Then another.

Evelyn grabbed Samuel’s wheelchair.

“We need to move.”

He held the wheels.

“Stop.”

“Sam.”

“Whose drones?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then running with you might be running toward them.”